Levels
by NamesGo321
Summary: Post-Avengers, Pre-CAWS. Steve Rogers has recently moved to DC and meets his new and very wild neighbor intent on helping him fit into modern society. (StevexOC)
1. My White Knight

_**My White Knight**_

"Why don't I help you upstairs, Lor. You don't seem to be in any shape to be alone," the young man offered his female companion as he helped her out of his car. The girl laughed uncontrollably as she stumbled drunkenly into his arms, "Woops! Nice catch, Eric!" Eric rolled his eyes at her, trying to ignore how close she was. Trying to ignore the skimpy red dress that hugged the drunken girl's every curve as he led her up into her apartment. He knew the way by now, as this had become somewhat of a routine.

"You're such a good friend, Eric," she slurred as she supported herself against him while stumbling up the stairs. Eric's blood boiled at her words. _Friend. _That's all he was to her, after how many times he's taken care of her, helped her, he was still just a _friend_? He was tired of watching her flirt with countless guys, asshole guys who would just use her and leave her heartbroken, guys he was ten times better than. Why couldn't she ever see that? He deserved to be more than a friend and she should've known that.

When they reached the door to her apartment, Lori searched for her key in a haze, her vision slightly blurry as she leaned up against the wall digging through her clutch. Shit, maybe she should've laid off on the hard liquor. Where had she put her damn key?

"Missing something, Lor?" Lori looked up at her friend, her face instantly brightening in relief as she saw him holding the small gold key.

She giggled and reached for the key, "You come to my rescue once again!"

Eric's eyes darkened as he set forth his plan to finally have Lori as he moved the key out of her reach. She would be his, like she is supposed to be. He watched the infamous pout form on her lips as she tried reaching for the key again, stumbling forward.

"C'mon, Eric! This isn't funny! Give me my damn key!" Lori lunged forward, getting up on her tippy toes, dropping the pair of stilettos she had been holding. Eric held her back and held the key out of reach.

"Not uh, Lori. Not until you give me something in return," he smirked. She would soon realize how perfect they'd be for each other.

Lori rolled her eyes at him, "Like what? You want me to take you to breakfast like usual?"

"No."

Lori stomped her foot in frustration, "Eric this isn't funny. I'm tired and its late so can you please give me my damn key?"

"Not until you give me a kiss," Eric smirked triumphantly. There's no way she could refuse not unless she wanted her key.

"Seriously? Fine, whatever," Lori smirked as she leaned in close to him and stood back up on her tippy toes with her hands planted gently on his chest. Eric closed his eyes as he leaned in close to her, taking in her scent. He then felt her soft lips planted on his cheek and her small hand reaching for the key in his hand. His face knotted in a scowl as he pushed her back into the wall.

"That's not what I meant, Lori."

"What the fuck? You said a kiss, Eric. Give me my key, this isn't funny anymore."

Eric pushed her up against the wall and roughly kissed her. Finally, Lori was going to be his. Lori tried shoving him back, but he towered over her. Even in her drunken state, she knew that she didn't want this. She bit down on his lip hard. Eric leapt back in and his hand traveled to his mouth where she had bit him. His glare was hard as he spoke, his voice laced with venom, "You bitch."

"Give me my damn key and leave."

"Why, Lori? Why do you keep fucking rejecting me? I've been nothing but a gentleman to you!" Eric pinned her to the wall, dropping the key to the floor and pressed his full weight against her. Lori was trapped as she frantically looked around the empty hallway of her apartment building. Where the fuck were her neighbors?

"Eric, I have never rejected you. I thought we were friends!"

"_Friends._ Are you so dense that you can't realize that I am in love with you, Lori?!" He growled at her before forcing his mouth upon hers once more with bruising force. His hands slid down her body to her waist. She felt so good under him. Tonight, she would be his. His Lori. Lori pushed hard against his chest but her efforts were futile. Maybe she should've taken those self-defense classes. She chomped down on his lip again. This time he pulled away slowly, malicious intent filled his eyes. Lori tried wriggling out of his grasp but froze when his hand came into contact with her cheek; the impact causing a loud smack to ring throughout the hallway.

"You know, Lor. I've tried so hard, so fucking hard, to be that good guy you always dream about having. To not be one of those assholes that leave you broken hearted. I hate seeing you sad, Lori. I really do. Well guess what? I'm not going to be that nice guy anymore, because you're going to be mine Lori." His weight was crushing her.

"Get the fuck off of me, Eric!" She screeched and clawed at him.

* * *

It was pretty late when Steve pulled up to his building. He had spent the last three or four hours at the gym in an attempt to tire him out enough to get some sleep. After the events in New York, with the whole alien invasion and the Avengers initiative, Steve moved to D.C to work full-time with S.H.I.E.L.D but even with the endless stream of tiring missions, he was never fully exhausted and he still couldn't sleep. He was adjusting better to this age, now understanding the technology and customs better. He leaned his bike up in his usual spot, taking note of an unusual car parked next to it. He strode into the building and jogged up the stairs to his floor. On the other side of his hallway he noticed one of his neighbors whom he rarely saw with a guy. He turned his attention away as they were in … an intimate position… and began walking towards his apartment. That was until he heard muffled pleas coming from the girl that sounded like "Stop" and "get off of me". Steve turned round and darted to the couple, grabbing the guy by his shirt collar and pulling him off of the girl. The girl slid down the wall to the floor, her eyes wide with fear, makeup smudged and her cheek slightly bruising.

"Get the fuck off of me, man! Can't you see we are in the middle of something?" The guy hissed trying to shove Steve away.

"I noticed but it seems that the lady isn't too keen on your intentions," Steve said evenly even though his blood was boiling, "I think its time for you to go."

"Like hell I am. She's mine, so I can do what I want. Get the fuck away before I give you a broken jaw, pretty boy."

"I'm not anyone's, especially not yours," the girl piped up, unsteadily trying to get to her feet but she wound up sliding the floor again.

The boy lunged at her but Steve held him back before slamming his fist into the boy's cheek and shoving him towards the stairwell.

"What the fuck, man?!"

"I don't like it when men take advantage of a woman. Now get out of here before you get yourself into a worse situation," Steve crossed his arms and stood in front of the girl as he watched the boy stalk away, cursing them both.

Lori stared at the man who just came to her rescue. She recognized him as her new neighbor who lived down the hall from her.

"You alright, ma'am?" She looked up and saw him crouching in front of her. His eyes scanned for any damage before offering his hand to help her up.

"Yeah…" she mustered before smiling brightly at him, "Yeah.. Just peachy." She took his hand and he helped her to her feet. She rocked unsteadily, feeling the alcohol still in her system, and fell against his chest. His oh so broad and firm chest. His hands grasped her arms as he steadied her, his eyebrows knitted into a worried look. "That's two times tonight that you've saved me," she smiled, "Knight in shining armor."

Steve was confused, how could this girl be so nonchalant after being nearly sexually assaulted? "Do you need anything? I can call the police if you'd like..?" He offered.

She knelt down and picked up her shoes before looking around the floor, "nah, its fine, Knight. All I need is a shower, my bed and some sleep. Oh and my key so I can do all those things…" Steve nodded and looked around spotting the little gold key sitting on the floor. He picked it up and handed it to her, "Here, Miss."

Lori smiled again up at him, "And now that's three. Thank you, my shining Knight. I owe you one," she said as she turned to her door and unlocked it.

"You don't owe me anything, ma'am. Just helping out," Steve spoke unsurely, "But if you need anything else, I live just down the hall."

"Alrighty, Knight. I guess I'll see you around. Thanks again for coming to my rescue," the girl blew him a kiss before shutting the door.

* * *

*******I have just been on a major Cap spree. anyways, yes this is a Steve and OC fic that I'm trying out. I was curious about the time spent after Avengers before TWS and how in TWS he is more adjusted to modern society so I figured there may as well be a helping hand in that. Anyways thanks for reading!*******


	2. Java Jive

_**Java Jive**_

Lori woke to the loud buzzing of her cellphone, which sat next to her on her bed. Sunlight streamed into her bedroom hitting her directly in her face. Lori groaned and turned on her other side. She nestled back into her pillow. Her phone continued to buzz and finally Lori sat up rubbing her eyes. She saw black smudge off onto her hands when she realized that she hadn't taken her makeup off from last night. She was still in her tight red dress and her head was pounding. She picked up her phone and saw she had an array of unopened messages and missed calls: 4 missed calls from Eric, 3 texts from him as well, 2 calls from her brother and 6 messages from her brother. It was only 8 am? Fuck, she could've slept later.

She threw the phone back on the bed and stood up, stretching. Walking towards the one bathroom in the apartment, she stripped off the red dress and tossed it into the pile of dirty clothes that occupied the corner next to the closet that contained the washer and dryer.

In the bathroom, she ignored glancing in the mirror because she knew she'd look like hell, makeup smeared, hair sticking out all over the place and tangled, and that disastrous bruise on her cheek.

After the soothing and steamy shower, Lori pulled on her comfy bathrobe and combed out her mid-length brown hair.

There was a knock at her door, the sound killing her brain. Lori called out, "Just a minute!" before stalking her way to the front door, opening it without even bothering to look through the peephole.

In front of her stood her handsome neighbor with a coffee in one hand, who was turning bright red as he looked at her.

"Oh uhm, hi… Neighbor, I uh.. thought I'd stop by and check up on you… I brought coffee.. I know that usually helps with a hangover and uhm.. well yeah," He sputtered as he adverted his eyes from staring at her and his cheeks were bright red.

Lori giggled as she realized she was only in a bathrobe and that was the cause of how flustered he was, "Thanks. You can come in if you want," she offered as she stepped away from the door to welcome him in.

"I uhm.. that won't be necessary, ma'am. I mean, I have work in about an hour and I .. well and you…" He trailed off gesturing to her attire.

"No, I insist that my knight come in," She flashed him a charming smile and reluctantly Steve stepped into the apartment.

"The kitchen's right over there and you can take a seat while I throw on some clothes," She called as she scurried to her bedroom. Steve nodded and set the coffee on the kitchen table as he took a seat. The girl emerged a few minutes later in a Baltimore Ravens jersey and a pair of denim shorts, her wet hair pulled up into a ponytail. She slid into the chair next to him, staring intently at him.

"So, Mr. Knight. You have a name or should I just keep calling you knight? I think it works since you're pretty chivalrous."

"Oh, my name is Steve Rogers, ma'am," Steve introduced himself holding out his hand to the girl.

"Lori Beckett," Lori took his hand and gave it a brief shake, "And please, Steve. If you're going to bring me coffee, don't call me ma'am. I'm only 22 and most likely younger than you."

Steve smiled sheepishly and pushed the cup of coffee towards her, "Sorry, it's an old habit. And I didn't know what kind to get you…there's a lot more choices now than there were ba-" Steve caught himself, "well I just got you regular coffee."

"Don't worry about it… Regular coffee is the bees knees. Half of the time I don't even know what I'm ordering anyways. Like what the hell if the difference between a macchiato and a latte?" Lori giggled and took the coffee. Steve laughed along with her, "I asked myself the same thing." He looked at her as she distracted herself with pouring a packet of sugar into the cup. He supposed she was pretty. She looked a bit like Peggy back when Peggy… well before he froze. The bruise on her cheek distracted from her face though.

"How are you after last night?"

Lori looked up at him, his blue eyes blazed with a bit of worry, and smiled cheekily at him, "Just dandy. A bit hungover, but I was falling all over myself last night which is kind of embarrassing."

Steve felt a bit frustrated that she kept avoiding the fact that that man had assaulted her, "I meant about-"

Her smile disappeared, "Eric. I know. Turned out what I had assumed was a close friend was nothing more than an insecure bastard who only wanted to get into my pants," She muttered bitterly. Steve tried to register that statement; she hadn't been wearing pants last night so why would that jerk try to wear them? Her hazel eyes locked with his, "If your intention is to get in my pants through bringing me coffee and being nice to me, then I suggest you get the fuck out," Lori added, venom lacing her words.

Steve was taken aback by her statement, "I … uhm… I have no intention of going anywhere near your pants," he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "I don't think I'd quite fit in them anyways."

Lori burst out laughing as Steve sat there confused, what had he said? Lori stopped when she saw that he was being serious. "Wait you honestly have no clue what get in my pants means?"

"I'm always honest, m'am," came Steve's response.

Lori giggled, "Well, Mr. Knight… it means he wanted to have sex with me."

Steve turned a tad bit pink, "right. I knew that."

"The more you know," Lori sipped her coffee, grinning at the man. His phone went off and he fumbled around with it as if he was still trying to get a hang of using the device. He grimaced slightly, before standing up.

"Well Miss Beckett-"

"Lori, please"

"Lori… Its been a pleasure but I have to go to work. I'm glad to see you are alright," Steve smiled and walked over to the door. Lori waved after him, lounging in the kitchen chair.

"Adios, Stevie. Thank you for the coffee and remember… I owe you one!"


End file.
